L

After getting off the call, Germany came out of his bedroom and through his messy personal office, down the hall and into the guest wing of the estate, checking his tie every now and then. He reached Mandara and MA's rooms and knocked on MA's door first. 

 "Guten morgen, MA," he announced, hoping he hadn't disturbed anyone's sleep. "I hope you slept well?"

M

MA looked up at the door when he heard Germany speak and went to open it. 

"Guten morgen, Germany" he said, "I did sleep well, what fabric are your sheets made of, it was like sleeping on a marshmallow."

Before Germany could answer, Mandara opened his door and walked out, "I thought I heard a German accent, good morning Germany." 

MA turned to Mandara and his eyes widened, he then whispered to his brother, "Trigger, bandages." 

 Mandara looked down at his hands and sure enough, he forgot to put bandages on, luckily the sleeves of his uniform covered up most of his arms, but the scars on his hands were visible. 

"Shit" Mandara exclaimed before rushing back in his room, closing the door. 

 MA shook his head, "He's gonna be in there a while."

L

Germany caught sight of the scabbed cross crosses on Mandara's hands before the country ran back into his room. He heard a vague mention of scars from MA, and his eyes widened slightly. 

"I'm sorry," said Germany, not knowing what he was apologizing for. It was the only thing he could think of saying. "I'll take good care of him today, don't worry," he said to MA.

Then he changed the subject since talking about past horrors did not bode well last evening. "Wehrmacht and Iremacht are waiting for you. I'll give you the address to their house, it's pretty close by."

M

MA looked at Germany confused when he apologized, even though he didn't do any thing, but nodded when he said he'd take care of Mandara.

"Thank you Germany, I'm glad I can trust you." He then yelled through Mandara's door, "Trigger, I'm going to Wehrmacht's house, I'll see you later!" 

"Ok, have fun, and say hi to Iremacht for me!" Mandara yelled back, to which MA said 'I will' before turning back to Germany, "so what's the address"

L

Germany took out a notepad from his pocket—he always had a notepad to help him remember things in his busy schedule. He scribbled out the address and handed MA the paper. 

"Should be just a few blocks down the street. Oh and keep your eyes peeled for any surprises." Germany grinned mischievously and retreated wordlessly to his office to order his chef to make some breakfast.

M

MA raised a brow at Germany but couldn't ask him what he meant before he left. Although he new that Germany talking about something good, the military half of his brain was screaming that it was a trap. He shook his head to try and get rid of the thought, but it wouldn't leave, so he sighed and went back in his room to grab the one thing he new would calm himself down, his gun. He wasn't planning on using it at all, it was just so he could go without feeling paranoid. Once he secured his gun onto his uniform, he made his way out of the estate and walked to Wehr's house, keeping his military senses on high alert for trouble.

L

Wehrmacht's estate was smaller than Germany's but located on the same street of the wealthy neighborhood. The three-story house had an older design, with soft white walls, curtained windows, and red sloped rooftops. 

It was on one of these rooftops that a figure lay flat against the tiles, his red eyes squinting through the scope of the paintball sniper in his hands. He aimed it at the street, waiting patiently for their latest visitor to arrive. 

 Wehrmacht had only just woken up from his nap in his upstairs master bedroom. The militant turned on the mattress, glared at the light coming from his window, and promptly buried his face back into the Irish flag pillow he was hugging. He had no idea there was someone on his roof.

M

MA was admiring the beautiful neighborhood as he was walking down the street, taking in the architecture of the houses. The longer MA walked, the more relaxed he got, to the point where he started humming to himself as he walked. Eventually, he came upon the right house and walked up to it, but stopped for a bit to admire it's design, but as he was looking over the windows and walls, he thought he spotted something on one of the roofs.

L

The figure on the roof saw his target coming into his line of fire. He had switched his senses to Enhanced Mode and from this distance, his eyesight picked up the wonderfully colored wings. He almost felt bad about what he was going to do. But the kid did this to all his visitors—everyone got equal treatment. 

 He breathed in steadily and adjusted his hold on the paintball sniper. Through the scope, he saw his target look in his direction. 

 He aimed for a headshot and pulled the trigger.

M

MA immediately fell backwards from the force of the shot, completely caught off guard. However, the shot awakened his military instincts and he instantly got up and dove for the nearest cover. He legitimately thought he was under attack and quickly grabbed and loaded his gun, once it was ready, MA sat behind his cover for a few seconds. 

 "Dammit, Germany tricked me, I never should have trusted him." he said to himself then a dark thought crossed his mind, 'Oh no, Trigger is still with him, I have to get back, but I need to take out this person first.' So, MA counted to three, then jumped out of his cover and fired, just barely missing the person's head.

L

"Holy fuck!" the figure on the roof shouted and scrambled out of view of the street. 

He had never experienced retaliation before; this visitor was a serious deal. Judging by the sound, that had been a REAL gun too. 

 "Iremacht, you got yourself in some deep scheisse today," he muttered, loading another paintball into his sniper. 

Was it a bad idea to fire back? Probably. But at least he had some sort of loaded weapon to defend himself. 

Inside the house, Wehrmacht jolted awake at the sound of a gunshot. It was really close to his house. Or rather, RIGHT OUTSIDE his house. The militant entity scrambled out of bed, got tangled in the sheets, flopped onto the floor, and finally crawled to the window and peeked between the curtains. He couldn't see MA anywhere, which made him believe there was an active gunner in the area. 

"IREMACHT!" Wehrmacht's fatherly instincts kicked in and he rushed out of his room. "Iremacht, where are you? Get inside, right now!"

M

MA heard Wehrmacht screaming, he couldn't hear what he was saying, but it sounded like it came from inside the house, which confused him since he thought that it was him that was shooting. With this revelation in mind, he then thought that it was a human sniper, which made him feel better since he knew how to deal with those. 

 MA then shouted at the sniper in his most intimidating voice, "Alright soldier, you have just fired at the military entity of Mandara, I have over two centuries of military training, which far exceeds yours. So I suggest you drop your weapon and surrender, otherwise I will have no choice but to kill you." 

 He then waited to see what the person's next move would be.

L

Goosebumps popped up on Iremacht's skin when he heard that voice, let alone all the credentials that came after. Two centuries! This guy was older than his father and probably more experienced, meaning he was in some deep trouble. 

 "W-Well," Iremacht stammered back at the top of his lungs, "you have just fired at the son of the country of Ireland and the former General of the German Army Wehrmacht! I'm younger than you, old man, and I've got the high ground. And if you fire any more live shots, you'll wake my Dad and he'll kill YOU—"

"IREMACHT!" Wehrmacht's shout interrupted him and Iremacht gulped. 

From the window below, Wehrmacht poked out his head. He had heard MA in the area so he was less concerned. More angry though, because he suspected Iremacht had done something to piss off their visitor.

M

MA immediately lowered his gun in pure disbelief, he just shot at and almost killed a kid, Wehrmacht's son at that. But before he could continue his thought processes, he saw Wehr poke his head out, and still thinking he was tricked by Germany, he aimed his gun at him. 

"Wehrmacht, what the f*ck is going on here. Trigger and I come here on peaceful terms and this is how you repay us, with an ambush! AND WHAT WERE YOU THINKING SENDING YOUR SON TO SHOOT ME, I COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!!!!" 

 MA was beyond pissed, flaring his wings as far as they could go. He didn't pull the trigger yet though, he very much wanted to hear Wehr's excuse for all of this.

L

"SHOOT you?" Wehrmacht immediately looked up and glimpsed Iremacht on the roof, holding a sniper. "Son of a - " He paused when he realized finishing that statement would technically be insulting himself. 

 "Hi Dad," Iremacht said in the quietest voice possible. 

 "You're dead meat," Wehrmacht hissed, then turned back to MA and raised his hands to show he was unarmed. "Trust me when I say I would never think of sending my son to ambush you. I'm looking for as much of an explanation from the kid as you are." He kept his eyes on the barrel of MA's gun. "But I'm going to need you to lower that first. Then we can all come down - " He glared briefly at Iremacht as he said this " - and sort this out." 

 Iremacht gulped again and slowly slid down the rooftop, landing on the balcony by his father. He shrank away from Wehrmacht - those black feathers were bristling with anger - as he squeezed past him and quickly headed down the hall. Wehrmacht took the shorter route, going out onto the balcony and flying down to join MA. 

M

MA was very suspicious of Wehr, especially since he was also a militant entity, and he knew that they both were trained to be very good liars. However, the genuine tone in his voice and the vibrations from his feathers told MA that he was telling the truth, but he still didn't lower his weapon. 

 When Wehr flew down, MA took a step back, "Stay there, you don't seriously expect me to believe you Nazi. I know very well that us militants are trained to cover our tracks, so until I know for sure that I wasn't tricked by Germany, this gun is staying up. I'm not going to make the same mistake Ussr did." 

 Deep down, MA felt bad for saying all that, but as of his current situation, he felt it was necessary.

L

Wehrmacht flinched at being called a Nazi. That was such a long time ago. Not even the British family used that term against him, although Wales and NI were usually the only ones who visited his house. The only other person who still purposefully said the word to his face was EU, which was why Wehrmacht didn't like that full-time entity at all. 

 The German kept his hands in the air as MA's gun continued to point at him. He noticed a weird red stain on the side of MA's face and growled lowly at the fact that his son had been pranking with the paintball sniper. 

 "You weren't tricked," Wehrmacht murmured. "Those days are gone for me. Just please don't shoot my son." 

 The front door opened and Iremacht stepped out sheepishly.

M

MA's eyes widened when Wehr pleaded with him, the look on his face told MA that he really believed that he was shoot Iremacht, and that didn't sit well with him. He then started to see the situation from Wehr's perspective, he was holding an unarmed man at gunpoint and accusing him of making his teenage son try to kill him. MA's hold on his pistol was faltering as he continued his train of thought, until he eventually lowered it and flicked the safety on, but didn't put it away just yet. 

 He then folded his wings and looked Wehr dead in the eyes, "I'm not a monster Wehrmacht, if I knew it was him then I wouldn't have shot in the first place. But with that said, I think I deserve an explanation."

L

Wehrmacht relaxed in gratitude at MA's words. Hearing the front door open and the timid footsteps that came out, he turned to glare at his son as he approached the two militants. Iremacht stood with his shoulders squared and, just like his father, held his hands behind his back. He knew he was in trouble, but he still maintained the posture of a militant as per his training. His eyes were fixed on the ground—they were now back to a bright emerald green color since he switched off Enhanced Mode. 

 "It's an explanation you'll get," Wehrmacht replied to MA. He folded his arms and stared pointedly at Iremacht. "What were you doing on the roof?" 

 "Shooting paintballs," Iremacht mumbled. 

 "At whom?" 

 "...him." Iremacht's eyes flicked towards MA, then back at the ground. 

 "Why?" This was sounding very much like an interrogation but Wehrmacht couldn't help it. 

"A...prank. I meant no harm."

M

MA looked at the kid confused, then he raised his right hand and touched the place on his head were he was shot, which happened to be right above his eye patch. When he looked at his hand it was covered in red, not blood, but paint, he then slid off his patch and it too was covered in paint. MA looked back at Wehr and Iremacht, sure he was mad that the kid scared the shit out of him, but he figured he would leave the scolding to Wehr. 

 "I gotta say kid, that was a pretty good shot, if that was a real gun I would have been dead. Most of the grown men in my army can't do that, who's your teacher?" MA chuckled as he put is gun in it's holster, he was genuinely impressed with Iremacht.

L

As soon as MA was removing his eyepatch, Iremacht looked intent with interest. He was fascinated with black eyes and didn't realize he was staring for a while at MA's eye under the eyepatch. Since he was lost for words, Iremacht simply pointed at his father to indicate his teacher. 

 "Now listen here young man," Wehrmacht growled at being called out. "I taught you to shoot enemies, not guests. ESPECIALLY not a decorated General like MA. You put yourself and him in danger — but more of yourself because he can rip you to pieces. And what did I say about using the paintball gun without my permission? I'm either going to throw it away or I'm going to break it, I'll let you pick. Oh, and Ireland is going to hear about this. Now APOLOGIZE." 

 At the mention of Ireland, Iremacht's entire expression turned deadass terrified.

M

MA snickered a little at Wehr's reaction to being tattled on, and even harder at Iremacht's reaction to hearing about Ireland. 

 "Hehe, well it sound's like you and Ireland are wonderful parents, but aside from that I think I also owe Iremacht an apology for almost shooting him." 

 He then playfully got down on one knee and hung his head. "Young Iremacht, I sincerely apologize for firing upon your person and I humbly ask for your forgiveness." 

 He raised his head ever so slightly to see the Germans reactions, trying hard not to laugh.

L

Wehrmacht was completely caught off guard and frozen on the spot with his mouth slightly open. Iremacht looke outright flustered and confused and panicky at the same time. 

"I—you—fire—wait no, I'M sorry," Iremacht finally blurted. 

He wanted to reach out to pull MA to his feet, then he hesitated because he wasn't sure, then he thought about reaching out again, and his mind was just a complete mess, all he could say was, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry, you don't need to ask for forgiveness, it should be me, I'm so sorry." 

 Then Iremacht also dropped to one knee, his previous straight posture forgotten, and he hung his head as he kept repeating "I'm sorry" like a record on replay. Wehrmacht face palmed. What a son.

M

That broke MA and he immediately started laughing at the display Iremacht was putting on. Normally when he apologized in this formal way that his father taught him, whoever he was apologizing to would either just stand there awkwardly, or play along and formally except his apology, but never had he have someone kneel back before. After he was done laughing for a bit, he straitened up and walked towards Iremacht with his head up high and his hands behind his back. Once he was in front of him, he spoke in his royal formal way. 

"Young Iremacht, I formally accept your apology and grant you my forgiveness, so long as you accept my own." Then he held out his hand for Iremacht to take.

L

In Iremacht's eyes, this knightly terminology was making everything both awkward and incredibly epic. He slowly took MA's hand, trembling with nervousness and excitement. Inside, he told himself to regain his control and remember what his dad always said about being calm — but he was, of course, a teenager in the end. 

 "I—thank you sir," said Iremacht, straightening himself. "Yes I accept, and I'm really sorry." 

Wehrmacht raised his eyebrow at MA's joke, a small smile tugging on his own lips. At least the tension from before diffused and he didn't botch any important relationships for Germany today. 

 "I know that wasn't the most ideal welcome," Wehrmacht said, "but please come in and hopefully enjoy the rest of your visit without any naughty interruptions." He shot Iremacht a look.

M

MA smiled at Iremacht and nodded to accept his apology again, then turned to Wehr when he spoke, "Yes, I also hope that this visit can go on without any more trouble, but first, may I use your bathroom so I can wash off my 'welcome gift'" He said, referring to the paintball splatter on his head and eye patch. "Then after that maybe we could have breakfast, since I doubt any of us had eaten before this 'calamity'."

L

"Of course, follow me," said Wehrmacht. "I almost thought it was blood for a second. Interesting choice of color, Machty." Iremacht's face flushed at being called his childhood nickname and he grumbled at this father. 

 Wehrmacht led the way into his estate. The living room had two sofas and a couch—purposefully arranged to replicate the living room layout at Ireland's house. There was a harp leaning against the fireplace plus a few bottles of beer in the table's center for special occasions. 

"I'll go get some cups from the kitchen," said Wehrmacht. "Iremacht, why don't you show MA where the bathroom is. I hope you used removable paint."

M

MA snickered at the name Wehr called his son, it reminded him of the nickname Poland calls his brother, Mandy. MA looked around the room with admiration, it was very nice and homey feeling. He spotted the harp next to the fireplace and grew curious, but couldn't ask Wehr about it before he told Iremacht to show him the bathroom. 

"I also hope you did, because if my brother sees a red mark on my head, he's gonna start treating me like a baby" he said to Iremacht.